Aruán Ortiz • Cuban Nocturne
Chris Tordini • Midnight Sun
ere we have the tenth and eleventh releases from Newvelle Records, which issues limited-edition LPs by subscription. As with earlier releases, these faithfully continue the label's tradition of presenting urbane, modern jazz captured in outstanding sound and wrapped in sumptuous packaging fashioned. Also as before, the 180-gram opalescent LPs, engineered by Marc Urselli at Manhattan’s East Side Sound studio, were beautifully mastered at Masterdisk by Alex DeTurk and play dead quiet, thanks to superb pressings by MPO in France. And then there's the music. Besides being a showcase for New York session bassist Chris Tordini and New York guitarist Greg Ruggiero, Midnight Sun serves to spotlight 34-year-old Becca Stevens’ uniquely fluid vocal style. Despite her youth, Stevens brings years of experience to these sessions. In addition to fronting her own band, she has worked with over a dozen artists, including Billy Childs, Brad Mehldau, Esperanza Spalding and David Crosby, and she was a member of the Grammy Award -inning jazz group Snarky Puppy. Midnight Sun is not cocktail-lounge jazz offering few surprises. Instead, it is often challenging, delivering cutting-edge, downtown jazz that will reward the attentive listener. So organic and cohesive is the trio that they appear as if Super Glued to one another. With the exception of "Everything Happens To Me," the only up-tempo tune on the album, the remaining four ballad standards -- including a pair of Ornette Coleman tunes (one done as a bass solo) and a Charles Mingus composition -- move along at a leisurely pace. Of particular note is the nostalgia in the lyrics of side two’s opener, "My Funny Valentine," which evoked a painfully personal interpretation by Stevens and a corresponding feeling of uneasiness. If a goal of music is to communicate emotion, this cut fulfilled it. Cuban Nocturne is one of the most enjoyable piano recordings I’ve heard in a long time -- both musically and sonically. Due to the dead-quiet surfaces, the ripe bass notes, the liquid midrange and the silky highs were revealed unencumbered. The honesty of the engineering on this album demands that it takes its place beside my favorite Proprius solo-piano recordings of Käbi Laretei from the late 1970s. You’ll find no frantic, dance-floor salsas here with screaming trumpets and in-your-face percussion -- just heartfelt interpretations of classic music by Cuban composers Lecuona and Cervantes. A lighter side is represented with a danzone written by famous bandleader Antonio Romeu. There is a pensive piece by Spanish composer Frederico Mompou as well as the pianist’s own melancholic theme, "Without Wings," to the Ben Chace movie Sin Alas. All told, Cuban Nocturne is a captivating ride through music not often heard -- much less heard in such fine sound. I could be quite happy diving into a plate of Picadillo Estilo Cubano at West Palm Beach’s Havana restaurant with this music playing in the background. A thought-provoking photograph by Jèrôme Brèzillon from the collection of Tendance Floue graces the cover of Midnight Sun, and an equally intriguing photo of his graces the inner gatefold. Cuban Nocturne features a cover photo by Oliver Culmann with one by Alain Willaume on the inner gatefold. As usual, both releases have two inner sleeves: one plain white and lined with vinyl-friendly tissue paper, the other thicker and glossy with notes by producer Elan Mehler. If you’re already a Newvelle Records subscriber you
already know what to expect from these LPs -- and you will not be disappointed. If you are
not a subscriber, there is no reason to wait any longer. Your spirit will be enriched with
this music. |
